TAUSHEN

Captured.

Shame and anger boil in my belly. Shame that I could not protect the females. Anger that we have been so easily overtaken. Helpless rage joins in. How could I let our people be taken? Why did I not fight to the death?

The answer is as obvious as it is annoying. Brooke and the others needed protecting. They have no one to look after them if I let myself get taken with the others, so I chose to stay behind. Not that it mattered in the end, because I am yet captured. However, capture is not defeat. As long as I am alive, I will fight to free myself and the others. Even now, with my hands bound behind my back by strange rope, I twist ever so slightly in my bonds, waiting for them to loosen.

I have not given up. I will never give up.

The door opens to the cave I am being held inside. It takes all of my willpower not to stiffen or alert them in any way that I have heard. I remain calm and still. I do not twist my hands. Only my tail lashes back and forth, but I cannot stop that no more than I can stop my breathing. I hear the soft sound of Brooke’s voice, and it calls up even more intense feelings. I am angry and frustrated that she has been captured, but not surprised.

Brooke. She and the one called Suh-mer are the last unmated females. They are my only chances at a family and kits, and yet again, my khui chooses to remain silent.

I hate it. I hate that it will not choose. I hate that time after time, I have been ignored and that the khuis of others have sung. The initial group of females arrived, and I thought I would surely have a mate amongst them. One by one, though, they resonated to others. Then Li-lah and her sister. Then the five enslaved humans. It is a bountiful feast for the sa-khui amongst the prized and once-rare females. My friends and hunter companions have paired up, mated, started families…

And yet I remain alone.

My khui is either flawed or too choosy. No, I realize bitterly. It is not the khui that is flawed, it is me. A khui always selects the best mate to make kits with a female. The fact that I have not been chosen tells me that there is something wrong with me that makes me a poor mate to any female. It is a thought that has eaten at me for turns.

The one thing I want the most, I will never get, and I do not even get an explanation as to why.

I hear Brooke’s voice again as she speaks with someone. Her voice is too low, her conversation happening too far away for me to hear. Thinking about her fills me with lust…and scorn. When she first arrived here, she gave me interested looks and flirted, letting me know she found me attractive. Her attentions filled me with such hope. Perhaps if I did not resonate, I would at least have a pleasure-mate to spend my time with. Someone to ease the loneliness. It soon became clear to me that Brooke flirted with all the males to get what she wanted. I was not special in her eyes. When she gave me sweet looks, it was because she wanted her pack carried or she wanted someone to give her an extra fur for her bed. It was not because she wanted my attention. She just wanted me to give her things or do things for her.

My interest in her soured after that, even if I cannot deny that she is an attractive female. Like most humans, she has enlarged teats, but Brooke’s are bigger than most, and they jiggle in the most enticing of ways when she walks. I try not to notice…but I notice. Just like I notice that her mane is a strange color, like the edges of the dawn against the mountains…but it is growing in a dark, rich brown against her scalp. I notice she does not have a tail. I notice that she makes happy little noises in her sleep. I notice that she has long lashes and that she has two laughs—her pretend laugh she uses to get males to do things for her, and a smaller, almost shy chuckle that seems more sincere.

I should not notice these things about a human I have distaste for, but I do.

So that leaves Suh-mer…but she has not held my interest. She is kind, but she does not have the shy chuckle that makes my sac tighten.

So, alone I remain.

But then the doors to my cave shut, and a figure stumbles and lands on the ground nearby. I look over to see Brooke, her colorful mane tumbled about her face.

She moans and cups her teats, shuddering on the floor.

The doors shut behind us, and then we are alone. Brooke has been left with me. Strange. I glance around, wondering if this is a trap. When no one emerges, I lean closer to her. “Brooke? What do you do here?”

She sits up slowly. She blinks, a little unfocused, her eyes seemingly huge in her delicate human face. “Taushen,” she murmurs, her gaze fixed on me at last. There’s a breathless quality to her tone that is surprising. “Are you…okay?”

I glance at the door before twisting my hands in my bonds again. “Well enough. How are the others? Have you seen them?”

She nods absently. “I think they’re going to put the couples together.”

“That is good.” I feel a bit of relief at hearing that. “It will make it easier for us to escape if we are not separated.”

“I’m not sure there is an escape,” she says, giving her teats another squeeze. “And they put me in here with you.”

She speaks as if such a decision is significant, but I am not sure why. I just twist my hands in the ropes again, desperate more than ever to be free. With her presence here, my protectiveness is surging, and I cannot do anything with my hands tied behind my back.

My small movements catch her attention. She focuses on me, and her hand goes to my arm. “Here, I bet I can get those free for you.”

“No,” I tell her. “I do not wish for you to endanger yourself by helping me…”

My voice dies as she puts her hand on my bare arm and strokes it. A little breathless sound escapes her throat, and she just pets me for a moment, her focus on my arm instead of my bonds.

And I, shamefully, react to this touch. I can feel my cock stiffen in my leathers. Despite the situation, despite the fact we might not live to see another day, despite the fact that this female will flirt with and tease any male, I want her as badly now as I did when I first saw her. My body does not care about any of this—it only realizes that her touch feels good.

“Brooke.” I say her name in a thick voice full of warning and question, both.

“Right. Your hands.” She makes another soft little noise in her throat that makes my sac tighten, and then her wandering fingertips move from my arm down to my hands, where she works on my bonds.

“I do not want you to endanger yourself,” I try again, but she interrupts.

“Don’t think that’s gonna be a problem. Trust me.” She gives that soft, almost shy chuckle, and I have to bite back my own groan. Why am I reacting so fiercely to her? Why, at such a dangerous time, can I not control my own cock? My thoughts?

Is this…resonance?

I hold my breath and go very still, listening. There is no hum in my body, no song in my khui. It is as silent as ever.

I do not know if this makes me glad or angry.

Freedom first, I remind myself, and concentrate on the light touch of her fingers. She pulls at the strange ropes, and within moments, they loosen about my wrists. I breathe a sigh of relief, pulling my arms forward and then rubbing at my sore wrists. I glance at the door, expecting the guards to charge through.

No one does, so I twist around and begin to untie my feet. Brooke just sits there, watching me. Her hands are tucked under her arms, as if she is hugging herself, and there’s a miserable look on her face. My suspicions grow as I finish freeing my legs and no one arrives. Why have they left Brooke with me? How did she know so much about what is happening, and how is she sure that it is safe for me to untie myself? My dislike of her makes me ask, “Are you working with them?”

That soft, shy chuckle escapes her, and the look on her face is wistful. “If I were, do you think I’d be a captive like you?”

I grunt, because this is a truth that cannot be denied. “I am sorry.”

“Don’t be. We’re all on edge.” She cups her teats again, and her thumbs stroke over the hard tips through her leathers. “Some of us more than others.”

I do not like that she keeps touching herself like that in front of me…or rather, I like it far too much. Those are touches a lover should do to his mate. Touches I want to do to her teats for her. I grit my teeth and move to the entrance of our strange cave, running my fingers along the seams, trying to figure a way to pry it open. “How do we get out?”

“I don’t think we can,” she tells me. “See that panel? You need a code to get through.”

Eh? I glance over at what she’s pointing at, but I see nothing but flashing lights set into the stone of the walls. She is human, though, and they know more about such strange things than I do. “So what do we do now, then?”

“We wait.” Brooke hesitates, and then gets to her feet. “We find some way to pass the time.”

And there is a husky note in her voice that makes my body tighten in response. Before I can ask why she is behaving in such a way, she moves to my side and lifts her arms, putting her hands on my shoulders. I think for a moment she is going to mouth-mate with me, but instead, she moves forward and presses her magnificent teats against my chest.

“Too tall to kiss,” she murmurs breathlessly. “Unless you want to lean down and help a girl out.”

She is gazing up at me in such a way that it is clear what her interest is. This is the way she looks at others when she wants something from them. This is her flirting, her teasing to get her way.

But I am confused. What is it she can possibly want from me right now? I have no weapon or anything to offer her.

My protection? She will always have that, as a vulnerable female. But perhaps she does not realize this and needs reassurance? “You do not have to put your mouth on mine, Brooke. I will protect you from the others. I will keep you safe.”

“That’s not it at all,” she tells me, and slides her hand down my chest, feeling the protective plates that cover my heart.

I try to remain impassive at such a touch, but my body reacts anyhow. I am going to spill in my pants if she continues this, and I must focus. I need to think of a way to save her, to save the others. The tribe depends on this. I might be the only conscious male right now…

But then Brooke crooks her finger at me, indicating I should lean down.

Fascinated, I do.